Recipe: German Lasagna

Jackie Struffert is a technical clerk in the Mille Lacs County Assessor’s office. She has been in the job 1 1/2 years and before that worked in the county recorder’s office, also in the county’s historical courthouse in Milaca.

Struffert is originally from Hillman and graduated from Milaca High School. She moved to Milaca three years ago and joined the Milaca Fire Department a little more than a year ago. She had been a first responder before she joined and says she enjoys that work. The work on the Fire Department has been busy, she said, noting that she made more than 70 department calls in about a year’s time. Struffert has three children – Jennifer, Jerad and Jessica.

Struffert enjoys being with people, crafts, scrapbooking, hiking, the outdoors and cooking.

GERMAN LASAGNA

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup flour

1 T beef bouillon

2 tsp. onion salt

2 tsp. black pepper divided

1/2 tsp. white pepper (optional)

2 1/4 cups milk

1 can chicken broth

1 lb. Italian sausage browned

1 lb. kielbasa or polish sausage sliced

2 eggs

8 oz. small curd cottage cheese

9 cooked lasagna noodles

16 oz. sauerkraut rinsed and squeezed dry

2 1/2 cups shredded Monterey or Monterey Jack cheese divided

In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour, bouillon, onion salt (or onion powder), 1 tsp. black pepper, and the white pepper (optional) until smooth. Gradually stir in the milk and broth and bring to a boil. Cook and stir about 5 minutes. Add sausage.

Combine the eggs, cottage cheese and remaining pepper.

Spread 1 cup of the sauce mixture on the bottom of a greased 9-by-13-inch pan. Layer with three of the cooked lasagna noodles, then place in layers – 1/3 of the sausage mixture, 1/2 of the cottage cheese, 1/2 of the sauerkraut and 1/3 of the Monterey or Monterey Jack cheese. Then repeat layering for a second tier. For the last layer, place the last three cooked noodles on top, place the white sauce on top and bake 50-60 minutes in 350-degree oven or until bubbly. Just before the last 5 minutes of baking, place the remaining shredded cheese on top.